Weather Blogger - Tropical Tidbits

There are tons of weather resources from the various NOAA services to the National Hurricane Center to Wunderground and more. Additionally there a hundreds of weather chat groups and bloggers, along with forecasters professional and amateur. A fellow Caliber owner recently shared one of his favorite weather bloggers and now Levi32 has become my main weather guy....along with all the official stuff. Check out his daily updates here.

Cross Utilization

A fun little challenge - I have discovered that I quite enjoy hunting for gear to outfit s/v Honey Ryder. I keep an open mind and look in places other than "marine chandleries." Army surplus store, RV shop, auto canvas shop, various industrial businesses, etc...
Our red light at the nav station has shorted out and needs to be completely replaced. I found this clip-on one at a bike shop. AND it has a solar and USB charger. Bonus!
*This is not to say that we don't buy proper gear where it is vital. So you will NOT find any big box hardware store bargin bin line on s/v Honey Ryder. No Way! Hardware store, none marine blocks - no again.

Naked Girl

That got everyone's attention. Actually I am talking about s/v Honey Ryder. Cap10 Tom stripped her down prior to Hurricane Irene's arrival.

More Storm Stories

Since we are still glued to The Weather Channel and all the weather web sites,now worrying about all our internet sailing friends currently in the path of Hurricane Irene, I thought I would catch you up some freaky storms we experiences last weekend at Lake Perry.




















Back to back storms brought 70 mph winds with some tough results for our dock neighbors.





















Fellow sailors Paul and Jim's home made Bruce Robert's design sailboat demasted. Luckily it feel into the only open slip on the dock or it could have been worse.















A repeat the next night with more 70 mph winds pushed the docks around even more, shoving the E-Dock ramp up into the parking lot and into the back of this sailors car. That probably makes for an interesting call to the insurance agent....."Yeah, um...you know the big storm last night? Well, my car got damaged. How? A dock rammed into it. No, I did NOT ram the dock again with my boat. I said the dock rammed my car."

Hurricane Irene Update

We got a vm from our dock neighbor this evening. s/v Honey Ryder weathered Hurricane Irene just fine. When the forecast shifted Irene slightly to the north, he decided not to haul his boat but instead ride it out on board. It's his full time home. His message said he had winds 40-45 knots overnight so he was rocking and rolling quite a bit making sleep tough. However both his boat and s/v Honey Ryder stayed put really well. YAY!!
I want to give a HUGE thank you to my main hurricane man - Cap10 Tom for prepping and securing her so well earlier in the week! Additionally a big thanks to dock neighbor Greg for all his help.
















This was definitely a learning experience. Most learning opportunities in sailing are fun. This was not "fun" but I guess it's just part of coastal cruising. Our thoughts are now on fellow sailors and others still in the path.
Go away to sea Irene! Enough already!!!

Hurricane Irene

We have been camped out in front of various web sites since last weekend tracking this wicked storm. It is our first time dealing with a hurricane since we purchased s/v Honey Ryder and what a mean little bitch she's turned out to be. Sunday night into Monday forecasts had Irene coming ashore directly on top of s/v Honey Ryder as a Cat 3 Hurricane. I only got 20 mins of sleep that night - every possible scenario running through my head. Cap10 Tom flew out Wednesday morning to do final prep and secure her as best he could. I continued to drive myself crazy with constant hurricane updates. Slowly Irene turned slightly - taking aim on North Carolina for it's first landfall. s/v Honey Ryder would still have to deal with tropical storm forces but not a full hurricane. However worry has now shifted to worry for fellow sailors and friends in the storms path.
Quite the storm for our first hurricane. Does it ever get any easier on these suckers? Do you ever get used to it or does your stomach always churn as you worry through every close hurricane event?

Checking Off The List

Most of us live with lists in our lives. Some are more prolific list makers than others. There many different types of lists - To do, To Get, To Take, To Remember, To See, etc....In recent year's The Bucket List has been a popular list that comes up at coacktail parties for discussion. There is even a list of 50 Places to Sail Before You Die. Whatever! However it seems we have lists and check things off without even realizing or trying.
Example - our brief little tango with the BFB (Big Freakin Boat) in a narrow shipping channel with an engine that just quit was enough for us. We NEVER want to experience that "thrill" again. We find ourselves telling friends that we can now "check that off our list - been there, done that." We got by with only a blink of a scare and quickly sailed to safety. I can't say the same for this poor sailboat.

Priorities

Each sailor has different priorities from next. We usually see cabinets like the above filled with wine, liquor and glassware. Not on s/v Blew Moon. Her crew Joan and Pat want their sailing gear handy. OR....maybe they are just hiding their precious stash of libations from fellow pillaging lake sailors. Hummm? As I said - priorities!

Honey Ryder Ready To Go

Back in her slip, engine repaired, ready to go again. And us? Ordeal or Adventure? Adventure all the way baby!! We learned some great lessons this week and we are ready to go again.

Fuel Issue is FIXED - Engine Runs!!

Aaron arrived Sunday morning just as he had said he would. Super nice guy and extremely knowledgeable, just as our dock neighbor said he would be. He checked this and tinkered with that and soon found that all the hoses on top of the secondary fuel filter were loose.



















Not loose that we could see or feel but enough that he put a full turn on all of them. That is where our air was coming from. He filled the primary and secondary filters with diesel, pumped the lifting pump a bit, did a couple of other little items and had Tom fire her up. She was a bit rough for a few seconds but then settled down into purr mode. YAY Aaron. He then proceeded to show Tom a couple of handy tips and tricks - stuff you don't find in a book, class or magazine article, but rather years of servicing diesels engines. Really good stuff!